A law blog addressing the foci of 3 intrepid law geeks, specializing in their respective fields of knowledge management, internet marketing and library sciences, melding together to form the Dynamic Trio.

Pages

5/10/13

Maybe I'm reading a bit much into this announcement from the Dorraine Zief Law Library at the University of San Francisco, but, the fact that Westlaw has decided to allow graduating law students access to their law school Westlaw IDs through the end of November seems to be a sign that even the folks up in Eagan, MN know it's a tough market for law grads.

Graduates that go to extend their passwords by May 30th can have access to Westlaw classic and WestlawNext through their student logon. According to the USF post:

Graduates who extend their password will receive access to WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic through November 2013 instead of just through July. The exact number of monthly access hours is not available, but is at least 40 hours per month.

Graduating students who have already extended their access don’t have to do anything further to get the extension through November. There’s a link to the extension site in an e-mail sent to graduating students. Students may also click the “Need Westlaw this Summer?” ad on lawschool.westlaw.com.

I'm glad that Thomson Reuters decided to allow grads to keep access to this very expensive resource to help keep their research skills fresh as they are hunting for work. Of course, I'm wonder who will be the first grad to put on his or her resume that "if you hire me, I'll have 40 hours of free Westlaw searching I can bring with me"?? Please, don't be that person!!

Let's see if LexisNexis will follow this option to graduating law students. I received an email this week and they are offering law graduates, recent bar examinees and solo practice attorneys cost efficient plans.